


A Moment Before The Story Is Told

by bibliomaniac



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Eldritch, Gen, Psychological Horror, and also sort of, and also sort of mind control? brainwashing?, as in it is referenced mostly indirectly, but also lol like be careful here as always, i will stan it forever. it is beautiful. read it, theres very light murder, this is a bit fucked up, this is basically a loving prequel to eden's wonderful eldritch fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 11:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14043435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliomaniac/pseuds/bibliomaniac
Summary: There is a moment where they realize it has gone too far. It is a moment of rare clarity: a moment when they acknowledge that this had always been more about ego than curiosity, a moment when they know they were in above their heads from the moment they first had the Light in their hands and that they were already drowned when they first had the thought that they could control it.There is a moment where they realize it has gone too far, but it is a moment far past the time when there was any hope of redemption.





	A Moment Before The Story Is Told

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ToTillAGarden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTillAGarden/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A Story, But With No Song](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13903854) by [ToTillAGarden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTillAGarden/pseuds/ToTillAGarden). 



> i love eden's eldritch fic and i love eden and also her birthday is coming up! but...i am impatient and wanted to post this right away lol. sorry my friend, there will be more appropriately timed birthday extravaganzas. also please look to the tags for warnings! this is psych horror, so if that messes you up pls don't read!

There is a moment where they realize it has gone too far. It is a moment of rare clarity: a moment when they acknowledge that this had always been more about ego than curiosity, a moment when they know they were in above their heads from the moment they first had the Light in their hands and that they were already drowned when they first had the thought that they could control it.

There is a moment where they realize it has gone too far, but it is a moment far past the time when there was any hope of redemption.

 

* * *

 

It starts like this: the Light of Creation falls to their world. 

Or, it starts like this: they escape, but they also chase it.

(Or, perhaps, it starts like this: the Light escapes, but it is also chased. It does not care for the ones attempting to contain it, but for the ones who need it so desperately they seek for ninety-nine years?

It is willing to pretend it is not letting itself be found.)

It starts in a million different ways and across a million different lifetimes, but for the purposes of the story being told, we will say it starts, ultimately, like this:

They capture the Light for the first time.

And it whispers to them, _we will get to know each other so well,_ but quiet enough they do not know they have heard it. It is fine. One day it will speak to them loudly, louder than their own voices echo in their heads, and it will be bright because it knows it cannot be needed more than it is then, when it is integral to their survival. But for now, it glows in a pulsating rhythm, subdued and waiting for what is ahead. It has existed always, before time was even a thought, and it has learned patience.

But _oh,_ it is excited, and it surges with light a moment while their backs are turned before it reins itself in once more. It wouldn’t do to let on, after all.

 

* * *

 

The Light is insidious in the way it works—lines upon lines, never making a big enough leap that they can tell their will is slowly being eaten away. Or, well, that’s not even the right word. They still have a will.

It just lines up a _lot_ more closely with what the Light wants also.

They study it, research how it works, and it gives them just enough about itself to make them think they are making progress, that they are understanding. And they are, in a way, or _will,_ but not until they have made some changes.

(That will come, the Light reminds itself, and shines in quiet anticipation.)

They discuss in hushed voices the Light’s ‘craveability’, how it makes people want it so much they do terrible things. (Wonderful _things_ , the Light pushes towards them in its own hushed voice, _but better if you did them, better with your creativity and power and ironclad will._ ) They wonder why they are unaffected, and the Light cannot smile as it is now, but if it could it would do so fondly. They do not understand, but that is on purpose. They do not understand, but they will. 

It bides its time.

There is a cycle when it questions them, just once. It is cycle ninety-nine, and they find it right away, and it glows happily to see its friends, and then—they rip it apart, into seven jagged pieces, and it cries out as it fractures, _why, why, why would you do this, why would you ruin me when all I ever did was love you?_

But as seven—less powerful, but still powerful _enough_ —they get to know them even better, and eventually they forgive them. They are with them always, now, nestled up close in the artifacts that they keep by their sides at all times, too afraid of letting the world feel the power they contain.

It is funny, almost, they think, again with a flash of fondness. Amusing, in a way, that they never even stop to consider that they will become a conduit for that power, and that the Light will get what they want in the end.

(That was always a bygone conclusion, though, and they have been _very_ careful that the birds not know, so they cannot be entirely blamed.

But maybe a little bit.)

 

* * *

 

The Light that lives inside the stone whispers to Taako that he can shape anything into whatever he wants. It tells him that he can make the world into the paradise he has never seen in it. It tells him that he never has to let anybody close again, that he can transform them until everybody else sees what he sees: dust, and a potential vulnerability. It tells him that they will be the ones vulnerable. It tells him that he will no longer have to build walls. It tells him people will come to him, but they cannot hurt him. It tells him that they will be wonderful together, and they will make everything else wonderful too.

The Light that lives inside the gauntlet speaks to Lup. It tells her that she can have all the power she can imagine. It tells her that she can protect those that come to her—that she will be powerful enough to make sure they are never hurt again. It tells her people will not be scared of her, that they will want to be near her, and that they will love every moment they spend in her presence. It tells her that there is so much safety in being more powerful than everyone else. It tells her that there is so much beauty in black glass and fire. 

The Light that lives inside the eyepiece murmurs to Davenport. It says that his life can be so much more than the mission. It says that nobody will ever have to know how afraid he is of people seeing that he is scared. It says they will never know because he will never show them. It says he can put on a brave face. It says he can make anything true if it’s the only thing anyone ever sees. It says the ocean is such a nice place to not be afraid.

The Light that lives inside the sash sings to Merle. It hums that there is a place where he belongs. It trills that he knows the plants better than anyone, and they can know him just as well. It warbles that the people who come into contact with him will love him. It croons that they will not be able to do anything but love him. It choruses that they will not be able to leave him.

The Light that lives inside the staff mumbles to Lucretia. It breathes that her shields will be impassable. It tells her it will keep her friends safe for good. It tells her that she has the right idea about keeping it isolated from everyone. It tells her she is right about everything. It tells her she can reach the moon with its help. It reminds her that she is not strong enough now to do anything, but she can be.

The Light that lives inside the chalice speaks plainly to Magnus. It says he cannot guarantee that every choice he makes will be a good one. It says sometimes he will rush back in and it will be the wrong thing. It says sometimes what he decides will hurt other people, and sometimes he will make all the right decisions and bad things will still happen. It says it can fix all of that.

The Light that lives inside the bell doesn’t speak to Barry. It floats through his dreams, and in his dreams, everybody who’s ever died because of him tells him he could bring them back. They tell him he’s so close. They tell him if he just understands what makes death work, he will never have to fear it again.

The Light never exactly lies, but its truth is not the one they started out believing.

 

* * *

 

It ends like this: they start murmuring to themselves in unison with the Light, and they do not remember saying anything after.

Or, it ends like this: they look down at the bodies of their first victims and they do not feel remorse. 

Or, perhaps, it doesn’t end, because the Light does not let go of what they love, and they love all of them dearly. They are such good friends to the Light—they do not fight, and when they mourn, they do so only in scattered moments and only quietly. They know what the Light has given them. They rarely think of what they have taken. And perhaps some of them sometimes feel lonely, when they kill everyone nearby, when they are separated from the others, and while the Light thinks it is good company, it knows how it feels to be ripped apart. They give them one day. One day, one day in the north, and the Light dances together, and so do their birds.

The Light thinks this is probably what happiness feels like.

If the birds disagree, they do not say so. (And if the thought squirms around at the very dregs of the consciousness that they have remaining, well—the Light can always speak to them again until that thought goes still.) 

And back, and back, and back further still, before there were any legends or stories, before the end that has not yet come: the moment comes, and the birds realize they have gone too far. It is when Taako finds himself in a tavern turned pink crystal, a tableau frozen in time with people eating the food he made them. It is when Lup burns a town to glass and thinks for a moment how lovely it is to see her reflection in it. It is when Davenport goes to the bay to look out at the sea and when he looks back, there is only the wreckage of the boats nearby. It is when Merle finds a beach with young dwarven children and leaves the beach covered in glowing fungus. It is when Lucretia stares up at the moon for three days and finds the inhabitants of the city she was in choked from the shield that cut off their air. It is when Magnus realizes he has lived the same day forty times. It is when Barry goes to warn all of them about what he has discovered and knows he is leaving behind a library full of corpses.

It is this moment, for all of them, when they realize it has gone too far, and in that moment they are frightened, and in that moment they spare a single thought to wonder how they can save the plane they meant to save from the Hunger from themselves.

But it is just a moment, before the Light in their relics tells them with love in its voice that everything will be all right, and before they believe it.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! my tumblr is [anuninterestingperson](http://anuninterestingperson.tumblr.com), but also check out [eden's ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTillAGarden/pseuds/ToTillAGarden) since that inspired this whole thing! and deffo read a story but with no song if you haven't already and liked this!


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